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dpa/ dawn.com
Islamabad
A suicide bomber blew herself up near a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals inside a university in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing four people and stoking fears about the safety of overseas workers.
The bomber detonated her vest when the vehicle drove the Chinese language instructors to the Confucius Institute on the campus of Karachi University, local police chief Muqaddas Haider said.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a subnational group behind a decades-old resistance movement in the country’s south-western province, said it sent the bomber, identified as Shari Baloch, to kill Chinese.
The BLA and several other insurgent groups are opposed to Bejing’s investments in Balochistan, where China is developing a deep sea port and undertaking several mineral exploration projects.
These groups accuse China of following imperialistic policies to steal their resources.
At least two Chinese women and a man were among the dead, Haider said, adding the fourth victim was a Pakistani driver.
The BLA is the first among the insurgent groups to have used suicide bombings as a weapon, something that Islamist groups, including the Taliban, did regularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But the attack is the first known bombing that has been carried out by a female bomber from a nationalist group.
A spokesperson for the university confirmed that three of the victims were Chinese nationals. They were identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai and Khalid, the driver.
The spokesperson also identified two of the injured as Wang Yuqing and Hamid.
Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) official Raja Umar Khattab said that the suicide attack was carried out by a woman, adding that ball bearings were found at the site of the blast.
He said the van was properly guarded as a Rangers team was escorting it which was why an improvised explosive device (IED) was not used instead.
Responding to a question, the CTD official said he did not believe a security lapse was the reason behind the attack since thousands of students were coming and going out of the university and checking each of them was a problem.
CCTV footage of the attack showed a burqa-clad woman standing outside the entrance of the Confucius Institute. The woman detonated herself just as the van neared the institute’s entrance.
Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that it was unfortunate that teachers had been targeted. Speaking to the media, he said that four others had been injured, including a Chinese national, a private security guard and a Rangers personnel.
Memon said that a Rangers team was accompanying the Chinese nationals. Asked whether a threat had been issued prior to the attack, the senior officer said that there was “always a threat”.
It isn’t the first time Chinese workers had been attacked in Pakistan. Last year, at least nine Chinese workers with a hydropower project were killed in northern Pakistan when a roadside bomb hit the bus carrying them.
Beijing is undertaking an estimated $62-billion project to build a network of roads and rail tracks to link it’s Xinjiang region with the Arabian Sea in south-western Pakistan.
The project is seen as the shortest possible inland and sea route that can provide China access to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and beyond.
Islamabad
A suicide bomber blew herself up near a vehicle carrying Chinese nationals inside a university in Pakistan on Tuesday, killing four people and stoking fears about the safety of overseas workers.
The bomber detonated her vest when the vehicle drove the Chinese language instructors to the Confucius Institute on the campus of Karachi University, local police chief Muqaddas Haider said.
The Balochistan Liberation Army (BLA), a subnational group behind a decades-old resistance movement in the country’s south-western province, said it sent the bomber, identified as Shari Baloch, to kill Chinese.
The BLA and several other insurgent groups are opposed to Bejing’s investments in Balochistan, where China is developing a deep sea port and undertaking several mineral exploration projects.
These groups accuse China of following imperialistic policies to steal their resources.
At least two Chinese women and a man were among the dead, Haider said, adding the fourth victim was a Pakistani driver.
The BLA is the first among the insurgent groups to have used suicide bombings as a weapon, something that Islamist groups, including the Taliban, did regularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
But the attack is the first known bombing that has been carried out by a female bomber from a nationalist group.
A spokesperson for the university confirmed that three of the victims were Chinese nationals. They were identified as Confucius Institute Director Huang Guiping, Ding Mupeng, Chen Sai and Khalid, the driver.
The spokesperson also identified two of the injured as Wang Yuqing and Hamid.
Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) official Raja Umar Khattab said that the suicide attack was carried out by a woman, adding that ball bearings were found at the site of the blast.
He said the van was properly guarded as a Rangers team was escorting it which was why an improvised explosive device (IED) was not used instead.
Responding to a question, the CTD official said he did not believe a security lapse was the reason behind the attack since thousands of students were coming and going out of the university and checking each of them was a problem.
CCTV footage of the attack showed a burqa-clad woman standing outside the entrance of the Confucius Institute. The woman detonated herself just as the van neared the institute’s entrance.
Karachi police chief Ghulam Nabi Memon said that it was unfortunate that teachers had been targeted. Speaking to the media, he said that four others had been injured, including a Chinese national, a private security guard and a Rangers personnel.
Memon said that a Rangers team was accompanying the Chinese nationals. Asked whether a threat had been issued prior to the attack, the senior officer said that there was “always a threat”.
It isn’t the first time Chinese workers had been attacked in Pakistan. Last year, at least nine Chinese workers with a hydropower project were killed in northern Pakistan when a roadside bomb hit the bus carrying them.
Beijing is undertaking an estimated $62-billion project to build a network of roads and rail tracks to link it’s Xinjiang region with the Arabian Sea in south-western Pakistan.
The project is seen as the shortest possible inland and sea route that can provide China access to the Middle East, Europe, Africa and beyond.
